The trial of an 89-year-old census resister and peace activist raises important security questions.

Peace activist Audrey Tobias, 89, speaks with media during a break in her trial this week for refusing to fill out the census form. Tobias does not object to the census but wants nothing to do with the census software's maker, U.S. military arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

On Thursday, a sparkplug 89-year-old woman and her lawyer, who doubles as a math professor, presented a doozie to the court.

Could Lockheed Martin, an American arms manufacturer, use the software it sold to Statistics Canada to secretly extract the country’s census data and hand it over to U.S. spy agencies?

Statistics Canada said, categorically, that no one at any time has ever breached its network and no information could ever be stolen.

“I don’t buy that argument,” said Justice Razem Khawly. “Unless I’m Jesus Christ incarnate, no one could make such a categorical statement where the Internet is concerned.”

Audrey Tobias was on trial for refusing to fill out the census form because the software used to process the information was provided by Lockheed Martin, a company the peace activist loathes.

Experts the Star spoke with all agreed on one thing: there is no such thing as a bulletproof network.

Tobias’ lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, called to the stand a computer scientist responsible for keeping the University of Toronto’s network secure.

“It’s not possible to have a completely secure network,” Arcady Genkin told court. “There are no methods in computer science right now to ensure there are no back doors.”

Back doors are exactly that — an alternate, and often secret, way to get into a network. That is one of the techniques the U.S. National Security Agency used to track Americans’ telecommunications, as was revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

“A number of months ago, there would have been many saying that she’s just being paranoid,” said Michael Geist, a law professor with the University of Ottawa (and contributor to the Star). “Once you learned about the NSA spying techniques, anything is possible. Even our own government’s systems can be breached.”

Added Christian Leuprecht, a security expert and professor at Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada: “If somebody wants to steal your car, no matter how you protect it, if they want it, they’ll find a way to steal it.”

However, all agreed that this scenario is more theory than conspiracy.

“Lockheed Martin has a reputation to protect,” Leuprecht said. “If you have a breach or intentional undisclosed sharing of protected data, that would be a serious knock to Lockheed Martin’s reputation.”

Yves Beland, director of census operations for Statistics Canada, told the court that the census data is locked down on a secure network housed in a building in Gatineau, Que.

None of the data ever leaves that compound, he said. Yet there remains one connection to the outside world.

“Even having the stuff safe and secure in Canada is somewhat reassuring, but we have no real idea what Canadian spy agencies are doing,” said Graeme Hirst, a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto.

Any time data leaves Canada, it is likely to pass through the United States at some point.

For example, Bell Canada routes all Internet traffic through exchange points in Seattle, New York or San Jose. So an email sent through Bell’s network, even if sent to a Canadian address, will enter the U.S. before reaching its final destination.

Once data is present within American borders, it’s subject to the U.S. Patriot Act, which requires American companies to hand over certain data if asked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the course of a terrorism investigation.

The upshot is many Canadians’ personal data and communications could end up in the hands of American spooks. Facebook, for example, keeps all its data in California, regardless of where you live. That could be subject to the Patriot Act.

As far as Statistics Canada knows, there has never been a security breach. But you never know.

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